Teenager in the house!

It is hard to believe that 13 years have gone by since that day that we will never forget for so many reasons.  Brock came into our lives creating quite a whirlwind...6 weeks early and with Daddy 12 hours away for the weekend.  (before we all had cell phones).  I've written before about the whole experience, and love to tell the story, but will refrain for now.  One thing I will say is that I remember giving birth and having him taken away and not brought back to me.  He had to be under heat, and had monitors/oxygen on, so they took him to the nursery right away.  About an hour or two later, they let me go in to see him but I was not allowed to hold him.  Now, many of you know me and know that I did not like being told I couldn't hold my first born child until morning.  So...off to bed I went and at 4:30 AM I was up asking to hold my little guy.  It was morning after all!  He came into our lives early and hasn't stopped moving since!  Here's my sweet boy, shortly after birth looking pretty beat up.  Look at all of that DARK, dark hair.  Born at 5 pounds 15 ounces.

Over the years, he has grown, changed and added lots of joy to our lives.  And notice...this picture of him at 2 and his hair is now blonde!

Gotta love his blue eyes...he gets them from his Great Uncle on Dad's side and his Great Grandma on Mom's side.  Nobody else in the family has blue eyes.

He has changed so much, yet it is very easy to tell it is him in each picture. 

Now our "little" boy is 13.  How am I old enough for a teenager?  How did 13 years go by so quickly?

The "toys" change over the years. This year he wanted walkie-talkies...

an iPod...(that he partially paid for)...

And a remote control helicopter.  He really was excited, this was a bad picture!  He is also getting a little "old" for picture taking.  No patience for a scrapbooking Mom!

Old enough to light his own candles. Yikes!

Old enough for a lot of things...but STILL my little boy!  Love you Brock.  So proud of the young man you are becoming.  I pray that God continues to work in you and show you His desires for you...Lean on Him and you will be okay bud.  We love you so much!

1st Haircut Ever

Sweet, ornery Kiara is 4 and had NEVER had her hair cut.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Finally in late July, I realized it just looked bad and really needed a good TRIMMING to fix it up.  Kiara goes with Grandma often to get her haircut and has come with me before too...She was over the moon excited about this hair cut and have Herminia cut HER hair instead of one of ours. Here she is before the cut...yes I know it looks bad. Sorry!

Normally, Kiara talks non-stop.  I think she was so excited she couldn't even talk.  She was so quiet and smiled the whole time.  Here she is getting it combed out and then wet down for the cut!

She had to keep her chin down so the back could be cut and that was a challenge for her...the little girl that NEVER sits still.  Herminia tried to get her to hold a comb under her chin, but she's a smart cookie and just kept reaching up and holding it with her hand so she could look up in the mirror!

Her favorite position...towards the mirror!

Hold still Kiara!

We ended up taking off two (2...yes 2) inches of her hair.  I didn't even cry.  She was so excited and I was busy watching her and forgot to be sad about it! Herminia was very proud of me! Doesn't it look so nice now that it is even across the back instead of ratty and frayed?

Then, just like Grandma and Mommy, Kiara had her hair "done" at the end.  Somehow the braids that I put in her hair so often don't hold a candle to the braids that Herminia put in.  I heard for days in the morning to put her hair like Herminia does it!  Goodness!

She always gets a sucker when we go for the boys haircuts and she waits patiently...so of course she ASKED for candy...after scrambling, she found some for her. Whew!

My little girl is growing up.  I will blink and she will be going on her own to get it cut and highlighted and brows done...she is growing up too fast!  But, she is still my little girl!

Getaway

Back in June, Phil and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  We decided to just do a little mini-getaway because of work schedules, kids schedules, etc...So a week after our anniversary, we dropped the kids at my parents and headed to Michigan.  Honestly, we had no specific plans...we had a hotel secured for 2 nights, but didn't really have a plan other than to be together.  We actually spent most of our time in St. Joseph and South Haven Michigan, but our hotel was in Stevensville.  Speaking of the hotel...oh my!  NOT what it had looked like on the internet!  First our key wouldn't work in the door and then we were put in a wrong room (I had reserved one with a hot-tub).  Then we got into the "right" room and discovered it was pretty dingy.  Gotta love this potted, very fake palm tree in the room.  It also was advertised as having a refrigerator and microwave..it did but they were so nasty looking that I refused to put anything in them!

Then there were the curtains that were falling off the window and had holes in them, the tv that wasn't hung properly on the wall and wouldn't turn on, the furniture that looked like it was bought at a garage sale, the air conditioning that never fully cooled the room, the staff at the hotel that was not friendly or helpful at all...but it did have the hot tub and the room seemed very clean, just old and dingy.  We laughed a lot about it and weren't there terribly much anyway, so it worked.

We headed to Silver Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan the first day and spent the late morning/early afternoon there and got a tad bit burnt. I was red but not terribly since I have been in the sun so much this summer, but Phil rarely has his shirt off, so he was a bit lobsterish and crispy! I forgot to mention that Phil HATES sand...he was such a good sport in going to the beach for me...but he never left the blanket!  We walked around the downtown shops before supper and just enjoyed the leisurely pace and time together.  After supper, we headed back and walked to the lighthouse at Silver Beach and watched the sunset.

This was our view on the beach...so beautiful and terrific weather the whole time!

The next day we played tennis at the high school courts there for a long time, got Starbucks and donuts and headed back for showers.  After that, we headed to South Haven to walk around and see the sights, the lighthouses and shops around town.  There was an old-fashioned car show going on and tons of boats coming in and out of the harbor which was fun to watch.

After touring South Haven, we decided that what we honestly wanted was a nap!  And since we had no kids, we slept for a couple of hours and felt so refreshed before going out to eat for supper again.

The sunset over the pier. Ahhhh! So pretty!

Phil doesn't like having his picture taken, so these pictures are rare finds with him in them.  We thought the setting was so beautiful, that we couldn't resist to take a few pics.

Our final day, we headed back to the beach for awhile and were entertained for quite awhile by a boat that was having mechanical problems and came into the swimming area and couldn't get out.  A bunch of guys ran out and pushed the boat just out of the swimming area until the patrols could come and help them out.

This was the view from our blanket on the beach of all the seagulls that just wanted some attention.  We got a kick out of a little girl who was pretending to be a lion and was crawling/crouching as she chased them roaring!  Reminded us of our little bug!

There must have been some kind of air show happening too, because these planes kept flying over us at the beach as well.

We headed back home in the afternoon and stopped for supper at Hacienda on the way home before picking up the kids.  We had a WONDERFUL time together as a couple.  I can't believe that it has been 15 years.  I love him so much!  Our personalities are very different...he is quiet, shy and reserved and well...I am none of those! HA!  But he completes me and we know that it was God that brought us together nearly 19 years ago to date.  I knew on our first disastrous date that I would marry him...that's a whole different blog! HA! 15 years has gone by so quickly and God has blessed us with much!  So thankful that he puts up with me every day and loves me for who I am!  I love you Phil...you are my best friend and I love you more and more and more as time passes!  So thankful God brought you to me!  Here's to MANY more years together!

How I spend my summer...

Way behind on blogging...I may never catch up!  I thought I would start by giving a glimpse of what our summer has looked like so far. Just a quick re-cap in pictures for you...We have spent A LOT of time at my parents house, referred to always as "The Farm".  Every morning we got up and headed out to walk sheep.  We walked 12 sheep every day.

We got a little hay-baling in as well, which over-joyed the boys.  They LOVE to work and especially with baling hay.  I'm thinking that could change in a few years, but for now, they are so excited to do it!  Brock threw the bales on the wagon and Grant stacked them up.  When Phil got off work, he helped the boys and Grandpa get it up and stacked in the mow.

Kiara isn't one to be left out, so she got a tractor ride around the field before putting it away.

Did I mention we walked sheep every day????  We were usually at the farm until lunch time at least every day work with the sheep, walk them, and care for them.  Kiara loved giving the lambs hugs...

We also had to wash and shear the lambs to begin the process of getting them "fair-ready".

We also have spent some time at the baseball field this summer.  Brock and Grant are on the same team and I will blog about that later, but wanted to give a glimpse of what we have seen from the sidelines!

Here's Grant on deck to bat!

Brock hit a single and then was ready to run from 1st base!

Life is full. Life is busy. Thankful I have summers off! 

More to come in future posts...

Drastic Cuts

I am embarrassed to say that I uploaded these pictures to begin this blog in May...yes, in May!!!!  We were so incredibly busy at the end of April and May that even though Grant wanted/needed a haircut, it seemed we never had the time to do it when the barber was open, or if he was open, he was super busy.  We decided to go and wait because THIS (below) is what he looked like!

As she began cutting I realized that I had to capture this transformation because of the style of cut that he wanted.  I knew it would be very drastic!

I only  had my phone to take pictures so the quality isn't terrific, but you definitely get the idea!  The back and sides are trimmed and this (below) reminds me slightly of his Daddy when I met him...don't ask :)

She spiked it up before cutting the top and I couldn't believe how long it had been. 

The finished product!!!!! He wanted a flat-top to look like his Dad!  Very drastic difference from when we walked in, to when we walked out!  Love being able to see those big brown eyes again!  Such a handsome 10 year old!

Now that I finally posted it...he needs his hair cut again!  Geesh!  This one isn't a drastic one though, so I won't need to blog about it!